Super Bowl XLVII Live Stream Sets Viewership Records

NEW YORK – Feb. 5, 2012 – The CBSSports.com, NFL.com and NFL Mobile from Verizon live stream of Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday set multiple viewership records for a single-game sporting event in the United States and also made history as the most social telecast ever, according to data provided by Omniture and third-party monitoring firms.

Online, the CBSSports.com live stream of the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens attracted three million unique viewers to the Super Bowl XLVII video player, up 43 percent from Super Bowl XLVI. Viewers generated nearly 10 million live video streams, up more than 100 percent from last year, resulting in a record 114.4 million minutes streamed, which was up 46 percent over last year’s game.

Sunday also marked the largest recorded audience in CBSSports.com’s history, as viewers streamed the game live, watched Beyonce’s half-time performance (the first time a Super Bowl half-time performance has been streamed live online in the U.S.), viewed alternative camera angles, connected with friends and followers socially, and watched broadcast commercials again on-demand.

In addition to viewership numbers, Super Bowl XLVII smashed the record for the most-social event in the history of television, according to third-party research firms BlueFin, SocialGuide and Trendrr. Trendrr tracked more than 52.5 million social comments throughout the day, more than three times the numbers tracked for 2012’s Grammy Awards and Super Bowl XLVI, the previous top events.

“Our live stream of Super Bowl XLVII not only set online viewership and social-media records but set the standard for a second-screen sports experience,” said Jim Lanzone, president of CBS Interactive. “Our goal was to create an environment that would serve as the perfect complement to CBS Sports’ coverage of the game. We’re extremely proud of this historic experience.”

“This year’s record-setting engagement demonstrates that our fans are always looking for more ways to engage with NFL content,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL senior vice president of media strategy and development.

CBS Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl XLVII (Feb 3: 6:32-8:41 and 9:11-10:47 p.m. ET) was watched in all-or-part (at least six minutes) by a record 164.1 million viewers. Last night’s 164.1 million (persons 2+) is the highest number of viewers to ever watch all-or-part of the Super Bowl. The previous high was 2011’s 162.9 million for the Green Bay Packers-Pittsburgh Steelers game.